Fabric covered strand



1941- G. E. HENNING 2,260,521

FABRIC COVERED STRAND Filed May 28, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet l 45 Ha. 4a a 46 I five 2. g [:E E gel I 27 E 5 2 FIG.3

A TTORNEY fabric applied thereto;

l atented Oct. 28, 1941 I r 2,260,521 FABRIC covaaan STRAND George E. Kenning, Fallston,

Western Electric Company, York, N. Y., a corporation of Md., assignor to Incorporated, New New York Application May 28, 1938, Serial No. 210,617

6 Claims.

This invention relates to a knitted fabric and a method of making the fabric.

In th knitting of fabrics, certain knitted fabrics are more suitable for certain uses than others.

Objects of the present invention are'to provide a knitted fabric which can be expeditiously produced and has a neat appearance, and a method of making such fabric.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention the needles of a knitting machine are operated in two units and form a pattern in which each course consists consecutively of two loops and then a float crossing two similar loops of an adjacent course.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the description proceeds.

A complete understanding of the invention may behad by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is a fragmentary sectional view of an apparatus by means of which the method of the invention may be practised and the fabric of the invention made;

Fig. 2 is a section taken Fig.3 is a section taken on Fig. 4 is a section of a core line 2-2 of Fig. 1; line 3-3 of Fig. 2; having the knitted Fig. 5 is a plan development of the knitted fabric; and

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view showing the relationship of the thread supplies and knitting needles.

- Referring in detail to the drawings. a knitting machine is shown having a base or support 20 of any suitable kind on which is mounted a stationary combined three part frameand housing 2|, 22, 23, within which a flier 24 is vrotatably journalled in antifriction bearings 25 and 28'. On the lower end of the flier is rigidly mounted a gear 21 which meshes with and is driven by a gear 28 mounted on a shaft 29 driven by motor means not shown,

Crank shafts-30 and 3i are right and left arms 24 of the flier respectively and have pinions 32 and 33 respectively mounted on their ends outside of the flier, which both mesh witha stationary within the housing 2|. shaft 30 and 3! within the diet is a crank and carries a connecting rod 36 or- 31 respectively. Through the-vertical axis of the housing and flier is positioned a hollow shaft 35 carried'by and secured to the iiien On this shaft is slidring gear 34. mounted journalled in the The inner end of each r from rotating on the ably mounted a pair of interlocked but relatively slidable needle supports 38 and 3!! respectively, which are therefore reciprocable with respect to each other as also on the shaft 35. The connecting rods 36 and 31 are pivoted as shown to the needle supports 38 and 39 respectively.

The upper end of the shaft is formed as a conventional needle cylinder with a plurality of longitudinal slots 40 in each of which is housed a needle 4i whose upper end is formed with the customary knitting hook and provided with the customary pivoted latch. Every other one of the annular plurality of needles is offset radially outwardly in its lower portion and secured in a plate 42 on the needle support 38 while the alternate needles are similarly secured in a plate 43 on the support 353.

Above the tops of the needles and concentric with the axis of the machine is an annular strand guide 44 stationarily supported in any suitable manner not shown, and provided with a plurality of guide apertures 45 through which strands 46 to be knitted together may be drawn from supplies not shown. The guide 44 also has a central aperture 41 to pass ,a core strand 48 if desired.

The needle supports 38f-and 39 are prevented shaft 35 andxrelatively to the flier by means of a slotted guide lug I48 on a crossbar .49 rigidly mounted on the flier.

In operation a core strand 48 is drawn downwardly through the machine from a supply not shown by any suitable means not shown, and the shaft 29 is rotated by suitable motor means =.not shown. The shaft 29 drives the flier 24, 24

through the gears 28 and 21. The pinions 32 and 33 on the crank shafts 30 and 3| are revolved by the flier and therefore are rotated by the stationary ring gear 34. Thus the crank shafts are rotated and reciprocate the connecting rods 36 and 31 which in turn reciprocate the needle carriers 38' and 39.

Since the two cranks of the shafts 30 and 3i are set to be apart, the needle carriers will raise and lower the needles secured to them in alternation, and the needles thus rising and falling while revolving will knit the strands 46 about the strand 48-.

Referring to Fig. 6, eight thread supplies T T T etc., and sixteen needles N N N etc., are shown. The thread supplies are stationary; that is, theydo not rotate about the core being covered, and the needles rotate in the direction indicated by the arrow. The odd numbered needles are secured to plate 42 and the even numbered needles are secured to plate 43, and these plates are reciprocated in phase opposition as pointed out above. The needles loop the threads again on thread T While each pair of needles picks up and drops the threads in sequence there is an interval in which both needles of a pair draw the threads which is known in the art as robbing. The pattern thus formed is shown in Fig. 5 in which the ordinate numbers indicate the needles and the abscissa numbers indicate the threads. Fig. 4 shows the same fabric applied to a core.

Considering now the course of one thread in Fig. 5, it will be seen that a course comprises a pair of adjacent loops and then a float which crosses a pair of adjacent loops of a preceding course. In other words a course contains two adjacent loops and then a float which crosses two wales before another pair of loops is formed.

Inthis way a pattern is formed in which the angular component of the length of a loop is equal to the angular distance between alternate thread supplies.

A fabric of this type has been found to have excellent insulating properties when applied to an electrical conductor, can be knitted at a high rate of speed due to the length of the loops, and has a neat appearance. The fact that the bight ends of the loops fall in pairs on the base line of a course gives the pattern a symmetrical and attractive appearance.

The embodiments of the invention herein disclosed are merely illustrative and may be modifled and departed from in many ways without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is: g

1. A strand having a knitted fabric covering comprising a plurality of threads knitted into a plurality of courses of loops, each course comprising in alternation a plurality of adjacent loops and a float crossing a loop of an adjacent course, the wales extending spirally around the strand. I

2. A strand having a knitted fabric covering comprising a plurality of threads knitted into a plurality of courses of loops, each course comprising in succession a pair of loops and a float crossing a pair of loops of an adjacent course, the wales extending spirally around the strand.

3. A strand having a knitted fabric covering comprising a plurality of threads knitted into a plurality of courses of loops, one of the courses comprising in succession a loop and a float crossing a plurality of loops of an adjacent course, the wales extending spirally around the strand.

4. A strand having a knitted fabric covering comprising a plurality of threads knitted into a plurality of courses of loops, one course comprising in alternation a pair of adjacent loops and a float crossing a loop of an adjacent course, the wales extending spirally around the strand.

5. A strand having a knitted fabric covering comprising a plurality of threads knitted into a plurality of longitudinal courses of loops, each course comprising in alternation a loop and a float underlying a loop of an adjacent course, the loops extending spirally around the strand.

6. A knitted fabric covering for a strand comprising a plurality of courses of loops in which the loops extend spirally around the strand concentric with the axis of the strand and the knots of a course extend in a line parallel to the axis of the strand, each course comprising loops, and floats underlying the loops of an adjacent course.

GEORGE E. HENNING. 

